We've had a birthday!

My baby has turned 4! It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years with this bright-eyed little one.


This called for a party! She'd been talking about it since Nate's birthday in March. "I want a yellow and pink birthday party at City Park." So that's what we had.


In case you thought these photos came from a magazine...they were from Elly's party. I happen to have a good friend who's a photographer who appeared with camera in hand... Meaghan can make all things beautiful with that thing!


Guess what...it's my birthday!


Look at all these adorable kiddos! Elly loved having her friends with her to celebrate.


The youngest having a birthday is kind of nice with older siblings as helpers! Mac wanted to be in charge of the pinata. He almost got hit a couple times...


Nate wanted to do facepainting. Sorry to all the parents that had to scrub for hours to get that off! By the way, Elly's was done at a carnival the night before. Nate's good...but not that good! :)


Get that loot!


This is one happy girl!


Some words that I would use to describe this little one...sweet, loving, inquisitive, outgoing, fearless, chatty, loud (we know she didn't get that from me!) and on-the-go. She's a bundle of energy that's cute, likes dresses, yet a tomboy all in one. God knew the little girl that would complete our family. We just love her to pieces!

Battle of the Bros!

Mac and Nate have been playing soccer this Spring on a U8 and U7 team. Each of these divisions only have 3 teams, so Nate plays a U8 team twice and Mac a U7 team once...and you guessed it, they ended up playing each other this past Friday night. It was a great game! :)


Can you find them both intensely watching the ball?! Nate is always intense...and Mac upped his intensity this game playing against his brother.


Go Mac Go! Mac was worried that Sam wouldn't cheer for him since he's Nate's team's assistant coach. Of course Sam cheered for him, and I think both teams thought it was fun that two brothers were playing each other.


Gotta love the headband... :)


Mac hit his teammate on this one... It was hot and Mac's team in particular seemed out to lunch for most the game. Bummer for them, but it did even out the playing field for a younger team!





The boys started off the second half both playing up front. THAT was really fun to watch. They came up against each other quite a bit...just like playing in the backyard.


After the game, they were all smiles and very hot. So after a goofy picture, we went out for some ice cream!

Mac's Piano Recital

Mac started taking piano lessons about 10 months ago. He has always loved music and has had a great ear for it. Piano lessons have been great for him. He's not always the best at practicing...but he does enjoy it. :) It's been tough the past two months with soccer and piano, but I'm proud of him for keeping up with everything. One of my friends teaches him and her students do a piano recital before Christmas and then again in the Spring. They play at a senior living center which is really fun. The piano recital is listed as an "event" on their daily activity board, and I think they really enjoy the kids playing for them. I missed recording the intro to his song, but here's most of Mac playing "Morning has Broken."

Skiing...exceeding our expectations

I was just talking to a friend about expectations of our kids, in the activity sense. I was telling her how there have been times that we are geared up to have a good time...and then our kids whine the whole time or whatever else a 3, 4, 5-year-old may do...and yet you just have to keep trying. You have to keep taking them hiking, on road trips, whatever you love to do and in the end, you hope for the best. You learn to give them grace because of their age, but also keep pushing them.

Honestly, I think Sam and I fly by the seat of our pants enough, that we don't think of what could happen, or how terrible it would be to camp with a newborn...we just do it. It hasn't always turned out the way we hoped (there was a camping trip that we almost drove home at midnight), but most of the time, it does. I think we've also learned that since you can't expect kids to always have a good time, to not let your expectations put you in a grouchy mood...thus having a whole family of grouches.

Anyway, this past weekend we went skiing, and it was one of those times that I would say our kids not only met our expectations...but exceeded them. I can tell they're growing up!


The boys had Monday off of school, so we headed up skiing on Sunday morning. Not the best conditions with wind...but the kids didn't mind. I think the boys were excited to help teach Elly, and Elly to learn, that they just went with it.


Sam had Elly on a tether, so she couldn't get away from him. I honestly thought her little legs wouldn't last long, but I should have realized with all her running these days, they're stronger than I thought! Sam had to hold her right between his legs quite a bit with some fresh powder being deeper in areas, but she got the hang of it. I loved hearing her repeat Sam's directions and just giggle. She giggled a lot! You could tell she had a great time. I don't know if being the third, and not wanting to be left behind skiing (she's old enough now to remember how many times the boys have gotten to go and she's been left behind) she just kept going...never complaining. She doesn't make turns yet, but more than anything, I was just impressed with her attitude.


Nate was preoccupied most of the time with helping teach his sister. He stuck by her and Sam most of the time trying to help her out. It was very sweet. I hadn't seen either of the boys ski the last couple times, so it was fun to see how much they improved. They do a great job on blues. Nate does a great job staying in control. He likes to try to bomb down the mountain,but always practices his turns.


This kid really seemed grown up this weekend. Mac has a great sense of direction and used it by leading the charge down runs. He just seemed so grown up leading us! He'd look at the signs and always wait at a good distance for everyone to catch up, never getting too far ahead. There was one time that Mac and I took a potty break and then tried to catch Sam, Nate and Elly on a run, so I led and would fly down. Whenever I stopped to let Mac catch up, he was literally right behind me. I was shocked. One time he crashed about 10 feet above me and said "I got going a little too fast on that one!" He also requested a mogul run one time and when he got down to the bottom, he looked at me and said "11...I crashed 11 times on that one." A couple years ago, Mac would have wanted to stop after crashes...but now it's just part of skiing...not a big deal...to be expected.

Mac and Nate have hit an age where they enjoy skiing, and don't need a ton of help. When they fall, they get themselves back up...they hike out of powder by themselves (we had a lot the second day), and they prefer to ride the chairlift by themselves (and amazingly, this doesn't worry me). My little boys aren't so little! Sometimes...that is! :)

Here's a video of Elly with her brothers following behind...she's usually on the tether.




You would have thought we were going to Disneyland with how excited the kids were to stay in a hotel! Mac actually said, "We're staying in a hotel with a lobby!" With the wind our first day, we only skiied for a couple hours. Sam and I knew how excited the kids were to stay in the hotel, so we headed back checked out our room and went swimming. While the kids took showers, Sam got dinner and a movie...and here we are...all eating on the bed together picnic-style! It was a great family trip!

March madness!

Life is full! We love it! It's definitely a new season of life with two grade school boys in the midst of sports and everything else. I rarely keep up, often think of what I meant to get started with two months ago...but it's alright. That's life. Here goes....


We hope you had a nice Easter! We had a quiet Easter, spending some much-needed quiet time after a busy week. I hope my legs didn't really look like this!




We got a dog! A chocolate lab named Hudson. He's fit in well and quickly became part of the family.


He hasn't been around kids much, so he hangs out in Sam's office when really little ones are over...but he sure loves Elly. She often lays down by him.


We had a great time with Beth, Bill and Gus. Can't wait to be with all the Glasers in North Carolina!


The boys are enjoying cub scouts. This is Nate's tiger den, he's on the end.


Mac's group got to do the flag ceremony at their Blue and Gold banquet. Mac is in the front saying all the commands. I'll try to post the video of this one.


The boys started soccer about two weeks ago. It keeps our evenings busy. They practice on opposite sides of town on Tuesdays, together on Thursdays and then have games in the same place on Fridays. They've been doing great for their first season, (Mac played in kindergarten, but this is a whole new experience, as he had no focus then!) it's fun watching them and they're having a great time.

We're doing well and will send more soon!

Oh yeah...it's still winter.

The past week has reminded us it's still winter. Last weekend we started our Friday with a snow day from school, then headed up to Red Feather for Sam's annual pond hockey tournament.

Sam left with his teammates early in the morning and I left around noon with the kids. I tried not to curse him for not warning me that I wouldn't be able to tell where the road was in places! I kept saying if this gets worse, I'm turning around...and Mac would then proceed to give me detailed directions because he did not want to go back home!


We got there safely in time to watch Sam's game. It was a bit of a white out. Before this snowfall that started Thursday night, there was only puddles here...now there's over 2 feet of snow.


The next day was awesome! It's usually windy and cold up here, but there was no wind, blue sky and lots of snow. The best weather we've ever had up there and the kids loved it! Mac was busy building tunnels and snow caves the whole time.


Elly helped him out.


Nate you could always find perched on a snow bank watching a game....didn't have to be a team he knew.


Sam taking a shot.


Sam's team. They made it into the top bracket, top 8 out of 24 teams, so did well. Always fun to watch.


Nate (bitsy in the middle) skated when he got some free ice...


and Elly got some in too. She's gotten much better on her skates through this winter.


Another nice picture of the area...


A couple weekends before the tourney, we stayed with some friends at their place in Winterpark. Here Sam and the kids are walking back up a long sledding hill.


The boys got their first snow-machining in, they of course loved it!


Elly loves sledding!


Her and her brothers have a need for speed that I'm sure will give me many heart attacks!

Cub Hockey

Goodness it's been a long time...there's a lot of pictures to post since our Christmas tree hunting...or even before then back to Thanksgiving, but I'll just start with today. The boys started cub hockey this week! It's on Monday and Wednesday nights, Monday being practice and then scrimmages on Wednesday. It's really fun.

The boys were sure to carry their own bags on their first night, unfortunately this didn't last by day 2. :) For cub hockey, you rent all the gear.


Nate was up first. He's in a 5-7 age group and skates for 45 minutes. They start with all the boys on one end of the ice, then have them skate as fast as they can. They blow a whistle and everyone falls to the ice and sliiiiiides. The farthest that slide are in the fastest group. They break the kids up into 3 groups.


Can you guess where Nate falls into? Skating with Sam every Saturday morning has definitely helped out this kid! The first day they introduced "hockey stops" as kids continued to run into the boards and each other. It was quite hilarious as no one knows how to stop.


After Nate's game tonight, he skated up to me and said, "Mom, do you want to know who won and what the score was?" They don't keep score, however Nate does, and knew that they won 4-0. The kid got a hat trick on his first night out.


Next up is Macalicious! This is all I see of him on Mondays because Mondays are also our night for cub scouts. Nate finishes up at 6, then Elly and I take him to his scout meeting which also starts at 6. Sam stays with Mac which his skate goes to 6:45 and his cub scouts start at 7:15. Our Mondays are a little crazy, but I'd rather have one crazy night then something on every night.


I did get to see Mac tonight though! He's in an 8-10 group and at the beginner level. He gets a little distracted at times, but when the pucks around him, he suddenly gets focused! :)He almost scored a goal! He wasn't so sure about signing up, but he's excited to go and has a great time...we're happy and encouraged to see him give it a shot!


Mac said he likes the practices better than the games...which I'm thankful for the way it's set up. I think having one day being fun drills helps the kids with their skills, but can also encourage kids who are younger and aren't as aggressive in the games.


"Here we go Ma-c, here we go!(clap clap)" This is what Elly would yell out every once in a while for her brothers with her hands cupped around her mouth. It was darn cute...she'd get everyone's attention on our end of the ice. I'm not sure how I ended up with such a loud child!


This is what the boys look like afterwards...bright red and completely tuckered out! They've slept well these past couple nights!